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Reviewed by Jamie Michele for Readers' Favorite
Anything but Brave: A Diary into Addiction by Lesandra Simpson is the author's memoir. Her diary entries span over the course of six years, beginning briefly in 1999 when she is only a teenager, and culminating after 2005 with a lengthy epilogue. The book is written in diary form as the author moved through her life. It's not an easy life and it's not an easy read. It's clear to a reader - although not to Simpson at the time of writing - that her life is spiraling out of control. Through drinking, drugs, anxiety, abuse, multiple short-term bursts of employment, unhealthy and enabling relationships, sexually transmitted diseases (both real and testing for ones that were ultimately negative), and having a child, we're given a glimpse of what it means to be lost. We're also shown that personal salvation is attainable, even in the most dire of circumstances.
Anything but Brave by Lesandra Simpson is instantly engaging. She tells all unreservedly. She's raw. She's real. And, frankly, my heart broke about a thousand times reading her diary. Throughout the book, even when in the depths of despair, she can sometimes border on poetic, with entries like, "I hate doctors so much and if I was dying I wouldn't want to know. All the drama that would come with it. Having to tell everyone. All the goodbyes. I really hate goodbyes." While the entries are sometimes chaotic (much like Simpson's life at the time), the epilogue does assist with closure. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in a true story of survival.
